Lomo C/R: Lomo'Instant Wide Glass Remote & Self-Timer

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A ready-to-use, battery-powered IR self-timer and remote for the Lomo'Instant Wide Glass, built around the M5StickS3.

Hardware

The external U002 IR sender is optional. The M5StickS3 can send the trigger signal to the camera by itself, and adding the U002 boosts output strength and gives you more placement flexibility.

IR Receiver Locations

The camera can receive the trigger from either the front or rear IR receiver.

Quick Start

1. Install Arduino IDE 2.x.
2. Install the M5Stack board package and select M5StickS3.
3. Install the M5Unified library in the Library Manager.
4. Open and upload firmware/self_timer/self_timer.ino to your device.
5. Point the StickS3 itself, or the optional U002 IR sender, at the camera's IR receiver (works best within ~40cm).
6. Controls:
   • Front blue bar button (Front Btn): Click to cycle timer/exposure duration. Hold to toggle between Shot Mode and Bulb Mode.
   • Side large rectangle button (Side Btn): Start/cancel countdown or close Bulb exposure.
   • Small side button: Power control only; it is not used by the self-timer UI.
   • The title line shows battery percentage; + means the StickS3 is charging.
   • On battery power, the device automatically powers off after 5 minutes idle. It stays on while USB is connected.

Bulb Mode Limitations

Due to the nature of analog instant film and the Lomo mechanical shutter, true micro-second precision isn't feasible or necessary in Bulb mode:

• Instax Film Chemistry: You are shooting on Instax Wide film (ISO 800). This is an analog, chemical medium. At multi-second exposures, a 0.1s difference (like 4.1s vs 4.2s) is completely invisible.
• Reciprocity Failure: Reciprocity failure means film loses sensitivity during long exposures. Once your exposure passes 1 or 2 seconds, you usually need to double the time just to get one more stop of light. Micro-adjustments do not matter here.
• Mechanical Lag: The Lomo'Instant Wide Glass uses a mechanical leaf shutter triggered by your Arduino. There is inherent mechanical latency. An Arduino firing a signal for exactly 2.1 seconds does not mean the shutter blades open and close in exactly 2.100 seconds.

Experiments & Deep Dive

If you're curious about how the Lomo IR protocol was decoded, reverse-engineered, and validated, you can read more in the docs/ directory. If you want to learn signals from other cameras, start with firmware/ir_capture/ir_capture.ino and capture their remote output there. We keep the main README short—this repo is ready to use out of the box!